Watch Latest Economic Updates: Australia's Bushfire crisis; Trump Impeachment

Australian Prime Minister, Mr Scott Morrison has been criticised for going on a holiday at the time the country was gripped with an unprecedented heatwave and an extended bushfire crisis. He has extended his apology for the same from the countrymen.

The devastating bushfires in the Australian states have claimed over 5 lives, destroyed more than 650 houses and burnt more than 3 million hectares of land in the country.

A state of emergency has been declared in one of the most affected states, New South Wales in December, after record-breaking temperatures hit it due to the bushfires. Due to smoke inundation caused by bushfires, more and more patients complained of respiratory conditions over the last week in the state.

The bushfire emergency going wild across Australia?s east coast reached a new crisis point on 19^th December 2019, when the two New South Wales Rural Fire Service volunteers were killed, and three other firefighters got injured as their truck hit a tree and went off the road. The accident took place when the RFS crews were combating fires outside Sydney as high temperatures created erratic and unstable conditions.

Is Australia?s Climate Change Policies Responsible for Aggravating Bushfires?

Many Australians have been accusing the federal government and Mr Morrison of inaction on climate changes. A large number of protesters recently went on the streets of Sydney, blaming the government of passiveness, to call for immediate intervention in climate change issue in the midst of an intense bushfire season that pulled toxic smoke to the city.

The former secretary of the PM?s department, Mr Martin Parkinson also believes that the Morrison government is not accelerating its pace enough to avoid 2C warming.

A recently released survey on Australia?s climate policy has demonstrated that the country?s businesses have very little confidence over the government?s climate change policies. Majority of the businesses surveyed were of the opinion that the ongoing political fight over the energy and climate policy would create disruption to a larger extent. However, the government has continued to defend its climate change policies.

Also Learn About Bushfire Insurance Here

How Climate Changes are Affecting Australian Farm Businesses?

Most of Australia?s population stays in capital cities, wherein a large fraction of economic activities is generated. Due to this, the climate change poses significant risks to Australian cities, including:

• Extreme events (heatwaves, bushfires and floods) and gradual impacts (temperature rise) that affect the country?s infrastructure and assets.
• Interrupted labour force productivity and greater risk of human injury.
• Possibility of worsening coastal inundation and storm surge in coastal areas.
• Damage to ecosystems and biodiversity supporting social wellbeing.
• Failure in one part of a city?s infrastructure networks creating cascading or unexpected effects in other parts of cities.

Australian Government?s Department of Agriculture has recently released a report incorporating the effects of climate variability and drought on farm businesses and households. The report mentioned that climate changes over the period 2000 to 2019 have had a negative effect on the profitability of broadacre farms in Australia, including both livestock and cropping sectors.

The study highlighted that the climate changes in Australia have lowered the annual broadacre farm profits by about $18,600 per farm or 22 per cent since 2000. The average profits of the most heavily exposed sector to climate variability - ?the cropping sector,fell by $70,900 or 35 per cent for a typical cropping farm.

As per the report, over $1 billion revenue has been wiped off from the country?s annual crop production amidst climate changes over the last two decades.

On one side, the Australian economy is distressed with the climate changes while on the other side, the US economy is also in jeopardy.

US President Impeached by the House of Representatives

Recently, the House of Representatives has impeached the US President Mr Donald Trump, officially blaming him for abuse of power and obstructing Congress. With this, he became the third President to be impeached in the country?s history.

He is encountering the following articles of impeachment:

• Obstruction of Congress for delaying investigative actions.
• Abuse of power for reportedly pushing the Ukraine President to scrutinise his Democratic rivals by reserving vital U.S. security aid.

This has set a stage of trial for the President next month in Senate on whether he should be kept or removed from office. Most of the House Representatives have endorsed the articles lifted against Mr Trump, paving the way for his trial in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Previously, two Presidents were impeached in the US - Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton in 1868 and 1998, respectively. But, both of them survived the trial in Senate which could have removed them from office.

The Russian President, Mr Vladimir Putin has come forward in support of Mr Trump, saying that his impeachment is bogus. He believes that it is a move against the President by Democrats amidst progressing the fight against the Republican leader. According to him, the US President is unlikely to be removed in the Senate trial as Republicans have a majority in the Senate.

Wall Street Rallied on Thursday Despite Trump?s Impeachment

The US stock market managed to close in positive territory on Thursday (19^th December 2019) despite the President?s impeachment announcement.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.49 per cent higher at 28,376.96, along with S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite that ended 0.45 per cent and 0.67 per cent higher, respectively.

The stock market carried the gains of the last two weeks pertaining to optimism surrounding the U.S. job growth results and Phase I trade deal with China.

Recently, the Labor Department reported that the country?s unemployment rate fell to 3.5 per cent in November 2019, against market expectation of 3.6 per cent. The jobless rate matched the lowest unemployment figure since 1969.

The Nonfarm payrolls rose by 266,000 in November, significantly higher than the economists? expectations of 187,000. Moreover, the average hourly earnings improved by 3.1 per cent over the year to November 2019.

The positive employment data was driven by the following factors:

• Improved hiring by the healthcare industry.
• Production workers returning to work after a strike at General Motors.

Despite gains in the US equity market, the Australian benchmark index S&P/ASX 200 closed the trading session lower at 6816.3 points on 20^th December 2019, with a fall of 0.2 per cent or 16.8 points.

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